Nagelsmann opts for an unexpected choice in goalkeepers
The unexpected announcement came in the mid-afternoon. Julian Nagelsmann and, indeed, Alexander Nübel will appear at the national team's press conference on Thursday evening prior to the Nations League game against Bosnia and Herzegovina. This confirms the rumors that have surfaced: Nübel will take the field on Friday (8:45 PM/RTL and live on ntv.de) in Zenica - not Oliver Baumann, as many had presumed based on the coach's earlier statements.
Baumann, it is now clear, will instead participate in the second match on Monday in Munich against the Netherlands. Nagelsmann underscored last week that the 34-year-old had also earned his opportunity following years of waiting. However, neither of the two debutantes should harbor grand aspirations of permanently replacing the injured starting goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen.
Nagelsmann has set his sights on the Barcelona goalkeeper as his number one for the 2026 World Cup - and has reaffirmed this position following his serious knee injury. He does not intend to develop a true "goalkeeper of the future" to challenge ter Stegen, which is why there is a "job sharing" arrangement between Baumann and Nübel. And for the Stuttgart player, this is validation of his long-term journey: "Of course, it's always a privilege to represent my nation. I've played in several games over the past three years, starting in Monaco. I had a fantastic loan there and represented my country internationally for two years. Then I returned to Germany to Stuttgart, and things went brilliantly from the outset," he told RTL/ntv, and continued: "I believe every youngster dreams of playing for their national team."
Andreas Köpke harbors doubts
The current state of the German goalkeeper position is revealing, as calls for the potential return of Manuel Neuer - who recently retired at the age of 38 - emerged following the controversy surrounding ter Stegen. The World Cup champion in 2014 declined and urged, "We need to have trust in our successors, including Kevin Trapp and Bernd Leno."
Nübel, Baumann, the also-selected Janis Blaswich, Trapp, Leno - none of these five are younger than 28. The age groups behind them are conspicuously absent. Andreas Köpke, the European champion in 1996 and long-time DFB goalkeeper coach, expressed concerns last year over the future after the Neuer/ter Stegen generation. "We're going to have a problem," Köpke warned, "I can't think of a name right now who could step into those shoes."
The association has long acknowledged the crisis and has taken steps to address it. They hired former Bundesliga goalkeeper Marc Ziegler as a goalkeeper coordinator in 2017, who has been responsible for the junior teams and the training of goalkeeper coaches. In the "N28" project, he is searching for an answer to the question of who will guard the German goal in four years.
Goalkeeper talents are performing - but in the second division
The DFB has established its own "goalkeeper DNA" with "ten genes" that define a modern elite-level goalkeeper: He should be a competent technician, always "online," an organizer, a personality, a space defender, and the first offensive player. "We have the talent," Ziegler noted recently, "maybe not as many as in the top age groups in the past, but we have them."
The truth is, the current U21 team has three goalkeepers who are currently first-choice at their clubs: Noah Atubolu (SC Freiburg), Tjark Ernst (Hertha BSC), and Jonas Urbig (1. FC Köln) - this wasn't always the case. In the second division, 17 out of 18 teams have German goalkeepers. However, in the top tier, only 10 teams rely on German starting goalkeepers - 10 years ago, there were 14. Among the top 30 most valuable goalkeepers in the world, according to Transfermarkt.de, only one German is listed: ter Stegen. Nübel ranks 48th, and Baumann is 196th.
The Commission has acknowledged the goalkeeping crisis in Germany and hired Marc Ziegler as a goalkeeper coordinator in 2017 to find the next generation of defenders. Despite having talented goalkeepers in the U21 team and the second division, only ten teams in the top tier rely on German starters, with Ter Stegen being the only German in the top 30 most valuable goalkeepers worldwide.
